Update on Noah Hawley's ALIEN Series - "There are Some Big Surprises in Store"
FX Chief John Landgraf recently offered an update on Noah Hawley’s highly anticipated Alien series. They are doing some big things with the series that are going to surprise fans. But, don’t expect to see any familiar faces show up.
Landgraf said, “There are some big surprises in store for the audience,” but don’t expect to see Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley show up. He explained that “Ripley won’t be a part of it or any of the other characters of Alien other than the alien itself.”
The FX boss went on to share, “Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story that takes place in the Alien franchise on Earth. So, it takes place on our planet. Right near the end of this century we’re in — so 70-odd years from now.”
He went on to say, “Noah has this incredible ability, and I think you’ve seen it with Fargo, to both find a way of being faithful, showing fidelity to an original creation like a Coen brothers’ movie, or in this case, Ridley Scott’s and James Cameron’s follow-up, Aliens, but also to bring something new to the table that represents extension and reinvention of a franchise at the same time.”
When previously talking about it, Hawley said: “It's about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial intelligence of our future, where both [are] trying to kill us. It's set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone's going to monopolize electricity. We just don't know which one it is."
The story is said to be set “not too far into our future, it’s the first Alien set on Earth—and by blending both the timeless horror of the first Alien film with the non-stop action of the second, it’s going to be a scary thrill ride that will blow people back in their seats.“
When previously talking about the series, Hawley said, “It’s a story that’s set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped… Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.”
Hawley has already written five scripts for his Alien series, but he will be shooting Fargo Season 5 before he jumps into Alien.